Gudlevskis, 20, was a 2013 fifth round pick of the Bolts out of the Riga organization. He slots into the Lightning depth chart at No. 5 behind NHLers Ben Bishop and Anders Lindback, and projected AHLers Cedrick Desjardins and Riku Helenius. Both Desjardins and Helenius must pass through waivers to be assigned to AHL Syracuse, so Gudlevskis provides some insurance. At the least, he takes the spot occupied by Pat Nagle in the organization. Nagle, who backed up Desjardins for the majority of the playoffs last year in Syracuse, was not re-signed.

At 6-foot-4, Gudlevskis was impressive at the Lightning's recent prospect development camp, building upon his solid showing at this past spring's World Championships for Latvia. He was expected to return to Riga and see time with their KHL squad. He got in two games last year, posting a .921 save percentage. He posted a .927 save percentage and 2.09 goals against average in 56 games for HK Riga in the MHL last season.

There's a bit lost in Google translation, but the article is saying that Riga has released him from the final year of his contract, which essentially paves the way for him to sign with TBL. There's no official word yet because I don't he he has actually signed with TBL. Just rumored at this point. But this is clearly the first big step.